Market research

Market research is the collection and analysis of information about the market within which a particular product will compete with other products for an audience. The media marketplace is very competitive. Media producers often find detailed market research into their target market. Sometimes they even commission other companies to undertake research on their behalf.
They are intrested in:

• What the target looks like,
• Who the other competitors in that market are,
• What their products are like.

They're very interested in the economic factors within the market and what potential revenue is available.
For exmaple:
If I was going to produce a magazine I would look into other magazines that have been produced by other companies and are the same type of magazine and have the same target audience(E.G. Teen girls/boys, pregnant women and etc..) I would try make a better magazine than the ones I have got research from.

The advantages of market research are that the researchers can improve the developer’s takings from the finished game and reduce the risk of the game not performing well in the market against the other competition. The disadvantages are that the sources may not be reliable sometimes not providing true information like the information website “Wikipedia,” which can be edited by anyone. If false information is taken from a website like this and then it is given to the client the finished product may not be a success.